Eggs Beans Three Sausage, South Ken

• Dimensions: 70cmx70cm
• Media: Acrylic paint on canvas
• Year: 1998
• Sold: Yes

I used to visit this caff on the Old Brompton Road for breakfast or lunch when I worked as a guard at the Natural History Museum for a year or so in 1997. Might have been a Greek owner there back then, but the cafe is not there anymore. I also frequented the old Italian restaurant Dino’s that used to be on the corner by South Ken station, and my mum introduced me to the excellent Polish restaurant Daquise.

This was an early sale to an early collector who is sadly no longer alive. It was the first of my cafe paintings and I very much enjoyed the weird alchemy of making paint into food, and still do. Turning the life you love seeing, into what you love doing, and using it to sustain your own life is the purest cycle of life for a hungry and very fortunate artist – even better if you pass that love on to others